A ''knez'' or ''kenez'' ( ro, cnez or ; hu, kenéz; la, kenezius) was the hereditary leader of the

Vlach "Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Eastern ...

( Romanian) communities, primarily in the medieval

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

Terminology

Official documents, written in Latin, applied multiple terms when they mentioned the Vlach leaders (or chiefs) in the Kingdom of Hungary in the 13th and 14th centuries. The most widely used terms''kenezius'' and its variantsderived from the Slavic ''

knyaz , or (Old Church Slavonic: Кнѧзь) is a historical Slavic title, used both as a royal and noble title in different times of history and different ancient Slavic lands. It is usually translated into English as prince or duke, dependin ...

'' ("ruler"). The office was closely associated with communities living according to the " Vlach law", thus the term ''knez'' was replaced by the term '' scultetus'' in the northeastern regions, where German law prevailed. A territory subjected to the authority of a ''knez'' was known as ''keneziatus'' (or ''keneziate''). Several ''keneziates'' formed a ''voivodate'', which was subjected to a higher official, the ''voivode''.

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* * * Conditional nobility (Kingdom of Hungary) Medieval Romania {{Romania-hist-stub

Terminology

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